U.S. patent application number 13/618484 was filed with the patent office on 2014-01-16 for line-switchable near field communication medical device.
The applicant listed for this patent is Yi-Lung CHEN, Chun-Ying LI, Wen-Yu TSAI, Shan-Yi YU. Invention is credited to Yi-Lung CHEN, Chun-Ying LI, Wen-Yu TSAI, Shan-Yi YU.
Application Number | 20140017994 13/618484 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 47019985 |
Filed Date | 2014-01-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140017994 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
LI; Chun-Ying ; et
al. |
January 16, 2014 |
LINE-SWITCHABLE NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION MEDICAL DEVICE
Abstract
A line-switchable Near Field Communication (NFC) medical device
comprising: a physiological measurement unit; a Micro Control Unit;
a first NFC module in which there are a first memory and a first
radio wave antenna communicating with an external second NFC
module; a switching module communicating with the Micro Control
Unit as well as the first NFC module and enabling or disabling
information to be written into or read from the first NFC module's
first memory.
Inventors: |
LI; Chun-Ying; (New Taipei
City, TW) ; CHEN; Yi-Lung; (New Taipei City, TW)
; YU; Shan-Yi; (New Taipei City, TW) ; TSAI;
Wen-Yu; (New Taipei City, TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
LI; Chun-Ying
CHEN; Yi-Lung
YU; Shan-Yi
TSAI; Wen-Yu |
New Taipei City
New Taipei City
New Taipei City
New Taipei City |
|
TW
TW
TW
TW |
|
|
Family ID: |
47019985 |
Appl. No.: |
13/618484 |
Filed: |
September 14, 2012 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
455/41.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04B 5/0043 20130101;
A61B 5/002 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
455/41.1 |
International
Class: |
H04B 5/00 20060101
H04B005/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 12, 2012 |
TW |
101213432 |
Claims
1. A line-switchable Near Field Communication (NFC) medical device
for linking an external electronic device, comprising: A
physiological measurement unit catching a person's at least one
physiological parameter; A Micro Control Unit (MCU) communicating
with said physiological measurement unit and running to activate
measurement operations of said physiological measurement unit; A
first NFC module comprising a first memory and a first radio wave
antenna wherein said first radio wave antenna is used to
communicate with said external electronic device; A switching
module communicating with said MCU and said first NFC module and
enabling or disabling information to be written into or read from
said first NFC module's first memory.
2. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 1
wherein said external electronic device is provided with a second
NFC module in which there is a second memory and a second radio
wave antenna.
3. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 2
wherein said switching module further comprises a first control
switch communicating with said MCU and said first memory and
enabling or disabling said MCU to write information into said first
memory or read information from said first memory.
4. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 3
wherein said switching module further comprises a second control
switch communicating with said first radio wave antenna and said
first memory, and enabling or disabling said information exchange
between said first radio wave antenna and said first memory.
5. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 4
wherein said second control switch controls information exchange
between said first memory and said second NFC module of said
external electronic device.
6. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 1
wherein said switching module disconnects communication between
said medical device's first radio wave antenna and said external
electronic device during information exchange from said
physiological measurement unit to said first memory, and recovers
said communication between said medical device's first radio wave
antenna and said external electronic device when information
exchange completed.
7. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 2
wherein said switching module disconnects communication between
said physiological measurement unit and said medical device's first
memory when said second NFC module approaching and communicating
with said first NFC module, and said second NFC module executes
information exchange with said first memory via said second radio
wave antenna, and said switching module recovers said communication
between said physiological measurement unit and said medical
device's first memory when information exchange completed.
8. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 2
wherein said external electronic device is a smart mobile phone, a
tablet computer, a notebook computer or a smart card.
9. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 8
wherein said smart card is an Easy Card, an Octopus Card, an
E-Wallet or a credit card.
10. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 1
wherein said physiological parameters comprise body temperature,
pulse rate, blood pressure, blood glucose, blood oxygen saturation,
EKG, ECG, and respiration parameter.
11. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 1
wherein said switching module is a circuit switch, a transistor
switch or an IC switch.
12. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 1
wherein said switching module is a relay.
13. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 1
wherein said switching module is a reed switch.
14. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 1
wherein said switching module is a switch controlled by voltage
signals.
15. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 14
wherein said voltage signal control comprises electric potential
change, voltage/potential increase, electric signal change, voltage
change, or current change.
16. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 1
wherein said first memory is an Electrically Erasable Programmable
Read-Only Memory (EEPROM).
17. The line-switchable NFC medical device according to claim 2
wherein said first NFC module and said second NFC module are
separately a NFC reader/writer or a NFC tag communicating each
other.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a medical device,
particularly a line-switchable near field communication medical
device which depends on a switching module to decide a sequence of
information exchange without disturbance.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] It is necessary for current medical equipment to transfer
all kinds of measured physiological information (e.g., body
temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure, blood glucose, blood
oxygen saturation, EKG, ECG, and respiration parameter) by means of
one transmission device which links cable network equipment or
wireless network equipment. In virtue of progress of transmission
technologies, a Near Field Communication (NFC) system as one
contactless short-distance point-to-point communication system of
equipment has evolved with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
system and interconnection technology integrated. Thus, the NFC
medical devices have emerged due to accepted ISO standards on the
basis of interface and communication protocols. As shown in FIG. 1,
NFC medical equipment based on prior transmission technologies
comprises an NFC medical device 90 with a physiological measurement
unit 91 for communication, a Micro Control Unit 92 and a first NFC
module 93: the Micro Control Unit 92 communicates between the
physiological measurement unit 91 and the first NFC module 93 to
activate and control measurement of various physiological
information in the NFC medical device 90 (e.g., body temperature,
pulse rate, blood pressure, blood glucose, blood oxygen saturation,
electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) and respiration parameter); the
first NFC module 93 comprises a first memory 931 and a first radio
wave antenna 932. On the other hand, an external electronic device
94 used in information exchange with the NFC medical device 90 is
provided with a second NFC module 95 which comprises a second
memory 951 and a second radio wave antenna 952. As such, the near
field (10 cm or so) communication is developed from the external
electronic device 94 to the NFC medical device 90.
[0005] The NFC medical device 90 based on prior arts to realize
near field communication with the external electronic device 94
still has drawbacks as follows: (1) Information exchange is also
enabled between the approaching second NFC module 95 and the first
radio wave antenna 932 due to an inductive effect when the Micro
Control Unit 92 is exchanging information with the first memory
931; (2) Information exchange is also enabled from the Micro
Control Unit 92 to the first memory 931 in addition to current
exchange between the second NFC module 95 and the first radio wave
antenna 932. It can be seen that the NFC medical device based on
prior arts is regarded as an unideal design under these conditions
inducing disturbance of information exchange or information wrongly
understood or accepted. Against this background, how to settle
these problems of the prior NFC medical device 90 such as wrong
information exchange and realize smooth correct information
transfer has become one issue deserving to be overcome by the
persons skilled in the art.
[0006] Accordingly, the inventor having considered shortcomings of
prior NFC medical devices such as application drawback and unideal
communication design has studied and developed one solution for
smooth, correct and controllable information exchange realized in a
line-switchable NFC medical device which can serves the general
public and promotes development of the industry.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The present invention is intended for providing a
line-switchable Near Field Communication (NFC) medical device which
features controllability of information exchange between the NFC
medical device and an external electronic device for realizing
correct communication and information exchange without
disturbance.
[0008] To reach the abovementioned purposes, the present invention
employs and comprises the following technical measures: a medical
device further comprising a physiological measurement unit to catch
a person's at least one physiological parameter; a Micro Control
Unit running to activate measurement operations of the
physiological measurement unit and communicating with the
physiological measurement unit; a first NFC module comprising a
first memory and a first radio wave antenna which communicates with
an external electronic device's second NFC module; a switching
module communicating with the Micro Control Unit and the first NFC
module and enabling or disabling information to be written into or
read from the first NFC module's first memory.
[0009] For technical features and effects in terms of the present
disclosure completely understood and recognized, the preferred
embodiments and detailed drawings are described hereinafter.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0010] Referring to FIG. 2 which illustrates the present invention
of a line-switchable Near Field Communication (NFC) medical device
comprises a medical device 10 as a physiological information
detector consisting of electronic medical devices for pulse rate,
blood pressure, blood glucose, blood oxygen saturation, EKG, ECG,
and respiration parameter. The medical device 10 further comprises
a physiological measurement unit 11, a Micro Control Unit (MCU) 12,
a switching module 13 and a first Near Field Communication (NFC)
module 14: (a) the physiological measurement unit 11 is able to
catch at least a physiological parameter from one person such as
body temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure, blood glucose, blood
oxygen saturation, electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) and respiration
parameter; (b) the MCU 12 communicates with the physiological
measurement unit 11 and runs for physiological measurements of the
medical device 10; (c) the switching module 13 communicating with
and installed between the MCU 12 and the first NFC module 14 is
used in switching electrical signals and includes, without
limitation, relays, reed switches, circuit switches (transistor
switches), IC (integrated circuit) switches or others; (d) the
first NFC module 14 is either a Near Field Communication (NFC)
reader/writer or a Near Field Communication (NFC) tag and further
comprises a first memory 141 and a first radio wave antenna 142
communicating each other: (d.1) the first memory 141 is an
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) for
storage of numerous information comprising individual information
(e.g., name, ID number, height, weight, physiological data etc.),
date and time information and replies on the first radio wave
antenna 142 to exchange information with an external electronic
device 30 (e.g., a portable device or a NFC reader/writer module or
a NFC tag module) via radio waves; (d.2) the first radio wave
antenna 142 emits radio waves with a frequency of 13.56 MHz. The
switching module 13 is used in enabling or disabling information to
be written into or read from the first memory 141 of the first NFC
module 14. The external electronic device 30 is provided with a
second NFC module 31 which is a NFC reader/writer or a NFC tag
comprising a second memory 311 and a second radio wave antenna 312.
The external electronic device 30 is used in near field (about
within 10 cm) communication with the NFC medical device 10 for the
purpose of information exchange.
[0011] The second memory 311 exchanges information with the medical
device 10 (the first radio wave antenna 142) through radio waves
from the second radio wave antenna 312 and stores information
comprising individual information (e.g., name, ID number, height,
weight, physiological data etc.), date and time information. The
second radio wave antenna 312 emits radio waves with a frequency of
13.56 MHz. In one embodiment, the external electronic device 30 can
be either a smart mobile phone, i.e., a smart mobile phone with an
NFC tag integrated, or a tablet or notebook computer, i.e., a
tablet or notebook computer with an NFC tag integrated. In
addition, the external electronic device 30 can be shaped to a
round coin or a piece of paper and regarded as an NFC tag; or the
external electronic device 30 can be a contactless smart card,
i.e., a contactless smart card such as an Easy Card, an Octopus
Card, an E-Wallet or a credit card with an NFC tag integrated. As
such, the external electronic device 30 comprising the second NFC
module 31 is able to construct an external NFC module corresponding
to the medical device 10; the first NFC module and the second NFC
module are separately a NFC reader/writer or a NFC tag
communicating each other.
[0012] Referring to FIG. 3 which illustrates the switching module
13 in the present invention further comprises a first control
switch 131 and a second control switch 132: the first control
switch 131 communicates with both the MCU 12 and the first memory
141 of the first NFC module 14 and enables or disables the MCU 12
to write information into the first memory 141 or read information
from the first memory 141; the second control switch 132
communicates with the first control switch 131, the first radio
wave antenna 142 of the first NFC module 14, and the first memory
141 to enable or disable information exchange between the first
radio wave antenna 142 and the first memory 141. In other words,
the second control switch 132 is used to control (enable or
disable) information exchange between the first memory 141 and the
second NFC module 31 of the external electronic device 30. Both the
first control switch 131 and the second control switch 132 (the
switching module 13) includes, without limitation, relays, reed
switches, circuit switches (transistor switches), IC (integrated
circuit) switches or others, for instance, switches controlled by
voltage signals including electric potential change
(voltage/potential increase), electric signal change, voltage
change, or current change.
[0013] Referring to FIGS. 2 and 4 which illustrate controllable
operations in the present invention of a line-switchable NFC
medical device: (a) S10: Start; (b) S11: Decision of conditions
including (b.1) Condition 1: Information is exchanged between the
physiological measurement unit 11 (which has been activated) and
the first memory 141; (b.2) Condition 2: Information is exchanged
between the external electronic device 30 and the first memory 141
of the medical device 10;
[0014] (c) S13 (in the case of Condition 1):The switching module 13
disconnects communication between the medical device's first radio
wave antenna 142 and the external electronic device 30 when
information exchange from the physiological measurement unit 11 to
the first memory 141, and recovers the communication between the
medical device's first radio wave antenna 142 and the external
electronic device 30 when the information exchange completed; (d)
S12 (in the case of Condition 2): The switching module 13
disconnects communication between the physiological measurement
unit 11 and the medical device's first memory 141 when the second
NFC module 31 approaching and communicating with the first NFC
module 14, and the second NFC module 31 execute information
exchange with the first memory 141 via the second radio wave
antenna 312, and the switching module 13 recovers the communication
between the physiological measurement unit 11 and the medical
device's first memory 141 when the information exchange
completed.
[0015] Referring to FIGS. 3 and 5 which illustrate alternative
controllable operations in the present invention of a
line-switchable NFC medical device: (a) S10: Start; (b) S11A:
Decision of conditions including (b.1) Condition 1: Voltage of a
connection line from the switching module 13 to the MCU 12
increases during information exchange between the physiological
measurement unit 11 (which has been activated) and the first memory
141; (b.2) Condition 2: Voltage of a connection line from the
switching module 13 to the first radio wave antenna 142 increases
when the second radio wave antenna 312 approaching and
communicating with the first radio wave antenna 142 of the medical
device 10;
[0016] (c) S13A (in the case of Condition 1): When information
exchange between the physiological measurement unit 11 and the
first memory 141, increased voltage on the connection line from the
first control switch 131 of the switching module 13 to the MCU 12
is detected and communication between the first radio wave antenna
142 of the medical device 10 and the external electronic device 30
is disconnected by the second control switch 132 of the switching
module 13. In contrast to the above example, other changes of
electric signals including electric potential change
(voltage/potential increase), electric signal change, voltage
change, or current change can be used in deciding information
exchange between the MCU 12 and the first memory 141 of the medical
device 10;
[0017] (d) S12A (in the case of Condition 2): When the second NFC
module 31 approaching and communicating with the first NFC module
14 for information exchange between the second radio wave antenna
312 and the first radio wave antenna 142, increased voltage on the
connection line from the second control switch 132 of the switching
module 13 to the first radio wave antenna 142 is detected because a
magnetic field induced by the external electronic device 30
approaching the medical device 10 is detected by the first radio
wave antenna 142 of the first NFC module 14. As such, information
exchange from the external electronic device 30 to the medical
device 10 can be determined; communication between the
physiological measurement unit 11 and the first memory 141 of the
medical device 10 can be disconnected by the first control switch
131 of the switching module 13.
[0018] In contrast to the above example, other changes of electric
signals including electric potential change (voltage/potential
increase), electric signal change, voltage change, or current
change can be used in deciding if the external electronic device 30
approaches the medical device 10. As a result, the present
invention of a line-switchable NFC medical device features
controllability of information exchange in the NFC medical device
and realizes ordered, smooth and correct communication and
information exchange without disturbance.
[0019] It can be seen from the above descriptions that the present
invention significantly meets patentability and is applied for the
patent. However, the above descriptions present preferred
embodiments only which do not limit the scope of the present
invention; any equivalent change or improvement based on shapes,
structures, features and spirit mentioned in the present invention
should be incorporated in claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration for communication
architecture of the NFC medical device based on prior arts.
[0021] FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration for architecture of the
present invention.
[0022] FIG. 3 is an alternative schematic illustration for
architecture of the present invention.
[0023] FIG. 4 is a flowchart indicating controllable operations of
the present invention.
[0024] FIG. 5 is an alternative flowchart indicating controllable
operations of the present invention.
* * * * *